Chicago Tribune writer Greg Kot called the song exhilarating in nature, with a furious, layered, percussion beat, praising the song's narrative about a man who "lost in translation with a whole … nation".
Michael Cragg of The Guardian called it "Futuristic-sounding, with double-tracked beats," praising Orbit for delivering "his signature motifs, from the Ray of Light-style guitar line that emerges from nowhere to the bit later on that sounds like Beautiful Stranger".
Ms. Priest, 50, who won the 2006 Pulitzer for beat reporting, praised the courage of soldiers who spoke on the record.
The New York Times' review of Beat Street praised the actor Guy Davis, "who plays a disc jockey with a special gift for the rhymed improvisation that's called rapping".
Stereogum's Amrit Singh described the production style as a throwback to vintage hip-hop beats, and praised West's extended use of metaphors on the track.
Three years ago, he published "Night Beat," a highly praised collection of articles about music from some three decades of contributions to Rolling Stone and other magazines.
Addi Stewart of Now magazine said the song "is straight groovy, baby!" Many praised the beat; Nick Levine of Digital Spy said, "It's a triumph of beats over melody, but few would deny that those beats sound pretty good as they're dropping".
Other journalists, praised its beat and Azalea and Ora's vocals.
Jim Cantiello of MTV felt the use of pick-up lines was silly, but praised the beat and the vocals, while calling the breakdown "awesome".
"Green Light" was generally well received by music critics who universally praised the beat, bass, groove, and angry tone used by Knowles in the song.
